Date: Fri, 6 Jan 95 14:21:22 CST
From: scott andrew mendel
TO: PERSONS WHO RESPONDED TO 12/9/94 ACTION ALERT ABOUT FEDERAL AIDS
HOUSING
FROM: AIDS FOUNDATION OF CHICAGO (via Scott Mendel)
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On December ninth I posted an action alert asking people to contact
the White House, the Federal Office of Management and Budget, and
their Senators and Representatives about the then-endangered Federal
set-aside of housing funds for people with HIV/AIDS (HOPWA).
With thanks to all of you who responded, I wanted to let you all know
that national AIDS advocates have been informed this week by the White
House that a torrent of email, letters, phone calls, and FAXes have
convinced them that HOPWA should remain as a federally-mandated line
item in the FY 1995 budget! There has been a delay in the publication
of the President's budget proposal, due in part to the executive
branch's efforts to anticipate the changed political landscape in the
104th Congress. But we have been assured that HOPWA will not be
consolidated into the general block grants to the states for
disbursement at the local level.
This means, on a practical level, that we have prevented as many as 50
individual battles in each state about monies being reserved to
protect low-income PWAs from homelessness.
Once the new Congress begins to adopt the budget there will no doubt
be a need for more grassroots advocacy to keep the HOPWA line item out
of that general pool of housing money to the states. But in the
meantime we can celebrate a victory!
Keep your eyes open for future updates on this issue. There is
certainly more to come.
And thanks again for all your energy!
For the AIDS Foundation of Chicago,
Scott Mendel
sm21@midway.uchicago.edu